Joan was my mother's first cousin, but I've always thought of her as my aunt because she, my mother and my aunt Sue were close. As teenagers, Joan's daughter Connie and I were close. We even roomed together for a while at college. This is just background information to lay the ground of my relationship to Joan, who at this time is in the hospital and very ill.

I think she is around 88 or 89 years old, has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and kidney failure. Joan is in quite a bit of pain and has said that she would rather die than live in this condition. I remember my daddy and Mr. B's mother making the same statement near the end of their lives.

Today I'm creating some social media postings, but other than that doing very little.